Identification of prospective targets for hydrocarbon exploration and production opportunities in asset evaluation generally requires months of seismic interpretation to tie well production zones, interpret the horizons of interest, extract and analyze seismic attributes corresponding to petrophysical properties, and assess the potential and risks.
Generally in traditional seismic interpretation, one or more seismic events are identified and tracked to yield a set of seismic horizons. These horizons are used to form a structural framework of the subsurface in two-way time, or depth. Subsequent geological modeling and most of today's seismic inversion schemes rely on this framework. For example, seismic attributes can be extracted around an interpreted horizon and used to characterize a reservoir unit.
Very often, utilizing prior art seismic interpretation methods, it may take a year for a new player to define the top recompletion, infill and exploration opportunities in a field with a large number of productive horizons. Successfully unlocking these opportunities depends on whether or not explorationists can significantly reduce cycle time, increase efficiency and lower risk in defining drilling targets. In meeting this challenge, an innovative approach has been developed to effectively identify prospective targets during asset evaluation.
Therefore, it is a desire to provide a 3D seismic classification method for identifying prospective targets. It is a further desire to provide a 3D seismic classification method that reduces cycle time, increases efficiency and lowers the risk in defining drilling targets. It is a still further desire to provide a 3D seismic classification method that reduces the time for identifying and defining drilling targets, especially in areas with multiple pay zones and complex geology, from months to a matter of weeks.